Here are some usability (in a broad sense) issues in no particular order that i noticed while playing The Outer Worlds
1) When a companion intervenes in a conversation, the camera would turn around to look at the character. The issue here is that you are still looking at your companion and you might think that the answers you have available are to answer him but in reality they are directed towards the person you were talking to earlier.
The camera should move back again to make the player understand to whom they are answering. Eventually the last line of dialogue could go back to what the person you are having a conversation with said last to make it clearer what you are answering too as well.
2) the items don't all have round prices which adds confusion. First it adds more information to process and to check but also when you for example sell something (at least individually), the numbers after the coma don't really matter. If i have an item that is worth 6,4 Bits (the currency) then i will earn 6 Bits if i sell.
3) the inventory uses the bumpers (LB/RB) to naviguate throught the main menus (character, inventory, journal etc...) and within the menu it uses the triggers (LT/RT) which is confusing because if you look how the menus are positioned, the main menus are in the back and the sub-categories within these are lower. Intuitively you would want to use the buttons at the back of the controller (LT/RT) to navigate through the part that is the most at the back but it actually doesn't work like that.
4) the info about the item covers up a big part of the actually menu and items in it. The right part of the screen is barely used and actually repeats the same information. The overlay could be moved to the right instead.
5) The critical damages really look similar to the other damages you deal. Here the 37's are the normal damages dealt and the 61!'s are the critical damages. The only thing that differenciates them is the "!" after the number which is pretty hard to see and could be confused for a "1". Colors and sizes could used here to convey this information as well as add something to the game feel (big bright number is more likely to convey emotions in a way).
6) Whenever you are arleady following a specific quest and you unlock/acquire another quest you see the objectif popping up at the top right of the screen but you are actually still following the same quest than before. A option to "start following this quest" could help the player understands that the objectif on the map didn't change and it would facilitate the change of followed objectif since the player has to open the journal and click on the new quest if he wants to activate it.
7) You can't unequip/change the weapon you currently have in your hands (and also nothing tells you that you can't, the button to unequip the weapon just doesn't appear). Since when you play with a controller you can't just drag and drop the weapon you want to equip instead, you have to first remove the weapon you want to unequip and then equip another one.
8) Navigating the map can be hard with a controller. The joystick moves very quickly and it automatically locks on point of interested when you are close to them on the map. The issue is that you sometimes have objectives (green location icon) overlapping with fast travel destinations (blue compass) and hence making it impossible to actually click on the destination. A filter icons on the map could solve this issue, as well as letting you navigate through the different fast travel locations with for example the arrow keys.
9) When you go to a shop and decide to buy ammunitions, you can't see the number of ammo of currently have whille shopping (for example a common thing in video game shops is a "XX of Y left". Here you have to check in your inventory how many you actually have.
10) The condition of the weapon or armor is sometimes hard to read because you have a wrench icon just left to it and it sometimes looks like a 1 when you read it with the percentage next to it.
11) different lockpicks : Different types of lockpicks are present in the game and are sometimes necessary to open doors. The fact that they never name them when you try to lockpick a door and only show the small icon makes it hard to remember their name and you will end up picking up items without really knowing which ones you got. Here if i would decide to try to find 10 more of them (in a vendor for example) i wouldn't know their name.
12) The weapons wheel is tedious to use with a controller. You first need to keep pressing Y (or triangle) then, the wheel pops up. You then navigate through it with the left joystick and once you are on the weapon of your choice you still need to press A (or X on PS4) to confirm your choice. Often wheels like these only require two inputs: you press the button and then move the joystick, once its on the weapon of your choice you can release it and it will equip it.
13) When you get a new quest from a NPC during a dialogue you sometimes get a lot of new information at the same time: you need to keep paying attention to the dialogue, you get the quest update with sometimes multiple objectives, you have another information in the lower right telling you something else (you gained access to...). The issue is that it's a lot at the same time and you also don't get these information at then of the dialogue therefore you have to dig into the journal and quest log to find these again.
14) Whenever you pick up items you have a whole block of information popping up. It is sometimes kind of hard to read due to small font and low contrast (grey on balck). Also The way the information is conveyed makes it hard to understand sometimes what the items are.
15) When you select your companions, the selected/deselected state is very small and not so easy to see. (only the small dots below each companion). Also there is confirmation of your selection when you press continue. It means that if you accidently selected the wrong companions or forgot to pick one, you don't get any error prevention.
16) The wording when you want to confirm your choice is somehow hard to understand. Starting the sentence with the main idea (do you want to confirm your choice?) and then telling the player that it is irreversible might make it more understandable.
17) When you allocated all your skill points and you try to go to another tab/menu you get this text. You can accept and all your changes are lost or you can go back and then you have to press X (or square on PS4) and then confirm. An easier way to confirm your choice here would be to add a third choice then that would make you keep all changes.
18) You cannot just select an unequipped weapon and equip it in any of the 4 slots you have available (while playing with a controller!). If you click on an unequipped weapon it will immediately change it for the first slot. If i want to change my third slot, i have to first unequip my weapon in the 3rd slot and then equip the other one. Allowing you to drag and drop weapons (like with a mouse) would make it easier and faster.
19) The option to compare items at the vendor only allows you compare items in you can buy but not to your actual equipped gear. Therefore, you can't see if the weapon is better than the one you have.
20) the required amount of lockpicks is displayed as: owned/needed. Often the other way around is prefered to convey first how many items are needed and then how many i have. Therefore it looks like: N° i have/N° needed and mimic a fraction which looks more familiar to most people. (Ex: 38/40 => ok i still need 2)
21) You cannot holster your weapon. Which first makes it looks kind of weird since you are always wiedling your weapon in front of people even when you just come to talk to them. But on a usability level, that can be an issue since you can shoot people and it has consequences and you are basically always just one click from being able to do it. There is no safety and error prevention in place.
22) You don't see how much money you currently have when you have the opportunity to bribe someone. You also can't go into the menus to see your inventory and money there. That can be an issue since you cannot leave the conversation and you don't know if you are willing to spend the money since you don't know how much you have left. Also the bits (money) are not really highlighted from the text so the player might overlook the fact that he/she is about to give money.
